(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid crystal display.
(b) Description of the Related Art
Generally, a liquid crystal display has two substrates with electrodes, and a liquid crystal layer sandwiched between the two substrates. Voltages are applied to the electrodes so that the liquid crystal molecules in the liquid crystal layer are re-oriented to thereby control the light transmission.
The liquid crystal display has a plurality of pixels with pixel electrodes and color filters of red, green and blue. The pixels are driven by way of signals applied through the wiring lines. The wiring lines include scanning signal lines or gate lines for carrying scanning signals, and picture signal lines or data lines for carrying the picture signals. Each pixel is connected to one gate line and one data line.
There are several types of arrangement in the color filters of red, green and blue. Among them are a stripe type where the color filters of the same color are arranged at the respective pixel columns, a mosaic type where the color filters of red, green and blue are sequentially arranged in the pixel row and column directions, and a delta type where the pixels are zigzag-alternated in the pixel column direction, and the color filters of red, green and blue are sequentially arranged at the pixels. In the case of the delta type, the three unit pixels with the color filters of red, green and blue are operated as one dot, and this makes it easy to express a circle or a diagonal line.
The ClairVoyante Laboratories has proposed a pixel arrangement structure called the xe2x80x9cPenTile Matrix(trademark),xe2x80x9d which has a high resolution expression capacity advantageous in displaying pictures while being involved minimized design-cost. In such a pixel arrangement structure, the unit pixel of blue is common to two dots, and the neighboring blue pixels receive the data signals from one data driving IC while being driven by two different gate driving ICs. With the use of the PenTile Matrix pixel structure, the resolution of the UXGA level can be realized by way of a display device of the SVGA level. Furthermore, the number of low-cost gate driving ICs is increased, but the number of high-cost data driving ICs is decreased. This minimizes the design cost for the display device.
However, in the above-structured liquid crystal display, the unit pixels of blue are arranged in the shape of a diamond and correspondingly, the signal lines for carrying the data signals are bent. Consequently, only the data signal line for transmitting the relevant signals to the blue pixels is elongated so that delay in the signal transmission is made with respect to the data signals for the blue pixels, and the display characteristic becomes to be non-uniform. Therefore, there is a limit in applying the Pentile Matrix pixel arrangement structure to the large-sized liquid crystal display. Furthermore, the red or green pixels are provided around the blue pixel per the two pixel columns, and the blue pixel differs in size from the red or green pixel. This makes it very difficult to form storage capacity required for the liquid crystal display.
Meanwhile, the data signal lines for transmitting data signals to the red or green pixels, or two gate signal lines are placed close to each other so that the wiring lines are liable to be short-circuited while reducing the production yield and deteriorating the display characteristic. Furthermore, as the neighboring blue pixels are driven by one driving IC, the data driving IC should be provided at both sides of the display region and this induces enlargement of the display device. In addition, with this structure, it becomes difficult to form repair lines at the periphery of the display region. The repair lines are to prevent the wiring lines from being cut or short-circuited.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a liquid crystal display which involves excellent display capacity while preventing the signal is lines at the neighboring pixels from being short-circuited.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a liquid crystal display which involves excellent display capacity while securing the required storage capacity in a stable manner.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a liquid crystal display which involves excellent display capacity while being minimized in the substrate size with repair lines for repairing possible cutting or short-circuiting of the wiring line.
These and other objects may be achieved by a liquid crystal display with the following features. A data pad connection unit electrically interconnects the data lines at the neighboring blue pixel columns by way of one pad. The neighboring gate lines or the neighboring data lines are spaced apart from each other while interposing the pixels.
According to one aspect of the present invention, the liquid crystal display includes pixels of red, blue and green arranged in a matrix form. The red, green and blue pixels are sequentially arranged in the row direction with the same color pixel neighbors in the column direction. Gate lines are arranged at the respective pixel rows to transmit scanning signals or gate signals while proceeding in the horizontal direction. Data lines cross over the gate lines in an insulating manner to transmit data signals while defining the pixels. The data lines are arranged at the respective pixel columns while proceeding in the vertical direction. The pixel electrodes are formed at the respective pixels. The pixel electrodes of neighboring blue pixel rows are connected to each other by way of first and second pixel electrode connectors. The first and the second pixel electrode connectors are alternately arranged at the pixel rows while taking the two neighboring blue pixel rows as a unit. Thin film transistors are arranged at the crossing area of the gate lines and the data lines with respect to the red and green pixels while being alternately arranged at the two neighboring blue pixel rows. The thin film transistors have gate electrodes connected to the gate lines, source electrodes connected to the data lines, and drain electrodes connected to the pixel electrodes.
The pixel electrodes are overlapped with the front gate lines for transmitting the scanning or gate signals to the front pixel rows to thereby form storage capacitors. One of the first and the second pixel Electrode connectors is overlapped with the gate line for transmitting the scanning or gate signals to the pixel row corresponding thereto. The parasitic capacitance due to the overlapping of the pixel electrode connector and the gate line is 5% or less of the sum of the liquid crystal capacitance and the storage capacitance.
Data pad connectors interconnect the data lines for transmitting the data signals to the pixel columns while taking the two neighboring blue pixel columns as a unit by way of one pad.
The data pad connectors are formed with first and second data pad connectors. The first data pad connectors are formed at the same plane as the pixel electrodes or the gate lines while crossing the data lines at the red and green pixels arranged between the two blue pixel columns. The second data pad connectors are connected to the data lines at the two blue pixel columns while being electrically connected to each other by way of the first data pad connectors.
According to another aspect of the present invention, the liquid crystal display includes pixels arranged in a matrix form. The pixels have red and green pixels sequentially arranged in the row direction with the same color pixel neighbors in the column direction, and blue pixels each being surrounded by the two red pixels and the two green pixels. Gate lines are horizontally arranged at the red and green pixel rows while traversing the centers of the blue pixels to transmit scanning signals or gate signals. Data lines cross over the gate lines in an insulating manner while proceeding in the vertical direction. The arrangement of the data lines is made through taking the red, green and blue pixel columns as a unit. Pixel electrodes are arranged at the respective pixels. Thin film transistors are arranged at the respective pixels with gate electrodes connected to the gate lines, source electrodes connected to the data lines, and the drain electrodes connected to the pixel electrodes.
A storage capacitor line assembly is overlapped with the pixel electrodes to form storage capacitors. The storage capacitor line assembly has first storage capacitor lines proceeding in the horizontal direction while being alternated with the gate lines, and second storage capacitor lines connected to the first storage capacitor lines while being extended in-between the red, green and blue pixels.
The pixel electrodes are formed with a transparent conductive material or a reflective conductive material.